


Marathon B

by ThatGoblin



Series: The Pack [17]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Mentions of attempted sexual assualt, hugs for everyone, mentions of assault, sad Link, the boy needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23890114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatGoblin/pseuds/ThatGoblin
Summary: Link isn't as okay as he says he is.
Relationships: Link Neal/Original Female Character(s), Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal, Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal, Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal/Original Female Character(s), Rhett McLaughlin/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Pack [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699129
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Marathon B

Link was laying in bed, dozing off as he waited for his mates when he heard it. It was Wren screaming. She got loud a lot, but not like that. She was scared and it made him bolt up as panic and fear gripped him. Jumping out of bed, he grabbed the bat in their room before rushing down the two sets of stairs to find his mates in the basement.

“Wren!” Link cried, rushing over to her. “Oh god, are you okay? What happened? Are you okay?” Dropping the bat, he looked her over with shaking hands. Link wasn’t laughing or groaning in relief. He was scared. 

“I’m okay,” she said softly, stroking his hair from his face. “Rhett just scared me is all. Asshole hid under the stairs.” Her touch calmed him a bit, seeing her not hurt and that she was fine if not annoyed at Rhett. 

“What the hell!?” Link yelled at Rhett, turning to him. “What is wrong with you?! She could have been hurt! You could have been hurt!” Link was fuming. He'd never been so angry so quickly before, especially at Rhett.

“Link, take it easy,” Rhett said, holding up his hands. “It was just a joke. I was just playin’.”

“It’s not funny!” Link yelled, stopping himself before taking a deep breath. What was he doing? Why was he suddenly screaming at them like that?

“Babe,” Wren said softly, taking Link’s hand gently. “It’s okay. It’s just Rhett being dumb.” He looked at her a moment before shaking his head.

“No. . . It’s not okay. I can’t. . .” Link said before walking off. He went back upstairs as Rhett and Wren watched him. Link didn’t understand what had happened really. One moment he was dozing off in bed, the next he heard Wren screaming and he was suddenly back to running to the house from the barn. Even though she stopped screaming, he couldn’t get a grip on his fear that was shooting through him. 

It had been a stupid prank by Rhett and now they were all upset. Fuck. Link sat back on the bed, running a hand through his hair. What was that? He’d never lost control like that, in fact he was the one that was always in control. Always kept his shit together and there he was, just screaming at his mate over a dumb joke. A small knock on the door brought his attention to Rhett as he stood there. Closing the door behind him, he crossed the room to sit next to Link on the bed.

“You wanna talk?” Rhett asked. 

“It. . . It just surprised me. I’m sorry I yelled. I know I normally don’t, it just caught me off guard,” Link said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“Wren said she thought you were asleep when she screamed and that you were having a flashback,” Rhett said. Link nodded, taking a shaky breath. 

“It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does,” Link said, sniffling. “It shouldn’t affect me like this.”

“Why not? It was traumatic for both of you,” Rhett said. “I wasn’t even there and I’m slightly traumatized. It was a big deal.”

“Yeah, but Wren had it worse,” Link said, shaking his head. “She was the one that was attacked, she was the one that had the bruises and scratches, she was the one that was fucked over and put on the internet, she-”

“She would want you to accept that you had the bad thing happen to you too,” Rhett said gently, resting a hand on Link’s back. “You had to save her, you had to beat that guy up, to talk to the police over and over, to do everything for her for the case. This isn’t like it was a neighbor and you were there, it was our mate. This horrible thing happened to our mate, who we love and want to keep safe. You were there to save her and you were the one to take all the burden when she couldn’t.”

“I couldn’t let her deal with that shit,” Link said, wiping his eyes. “There was no way I was going to have her look through those photos, pick herself out, and tell the sheriff that it was her. Not in a room full of people who had seen those pictures and had seen her posed like that.”

“I know, I wouldn’t have let her either,” Rhett said. “But you’re not alone in this. Wren’s doing good, but you can’t keep thinking there’s nothing wrong with what you went through. It’s our worst nightmare to hear your mate screaming and find them being hurt. In our own home where you see the spot every day. Wren’s doing better now and that’s because she reached out and is asking for help. You gotta do the same, Honey.”

Link looked up at Rhett, tears falling down his face as he let his guard down. 

“I was just so scared that I didn’t get there in time,” Link said, covering his face with his hands as he began to sob. “What if something worse had happened? What if she’d been killed? It would be my fault because I didn’t think-”

“Hey, hey,” Rhett said, grasping Links wrists and pulling his hands from his face. He forced the other to look up at him. “She is safe and alive and that is because of you. You didn’t fail.”

Link looked at him before shaking his head a moment. 

“I. . . I can’t let you two down,” he said, hands shaking in Rhett’s. "Not again."

“You won’t and you didn’t,” Rhett said softly. “Honey, you don’t have to do this alone. Please, please, let us help you. You wanted to help Wren so badly, but now it’s our turn to help you.”

“Okay,” Link said with a nod, leaning into Rhett. “Okay.”

“Here, lay down, baby,” Rhett said, helping Link into the middle of the bed. “It’s okay. I’ll stay here as long as you need me too.” Link took a breath as Rhett stroked his hair and whispered soft words of love and adoration. He wasn’t sure if he deserved it, but the fact that Rhett was giving it to him regardless had him crumble into sobs. 

Wren soon joined them, curling up around Link to offer comfort for him as well. They all stayed close, comforting the one member of their pack that had pushed it off till he couldn’t keep going without it.

**Author's Note:**

> WE'RE ALL SAD OKAY! Honestly though, I wanted to show that it wasn't just Wren affected by the nonsense and poor Link was the one it ended up being. 
> 
> If you wanna see something with these three, whether it's a prompt, a scene, or even an AU of this AU, let me know! I have a tumblr for the series to keep people updated on stuff cause sometimes I miss an upload and oops and for. . . other stuff. lol it's tumblr.com/blog/dinkycreekranch


End file.
